E 
J'Tfc 



Pei\iv5ylvArvi\^ocidy 

^oivjoffKel^Volvh'on 



"Ghe Camp on the Neshaminy 




Class E I "^ 5 
I)()ok___Jjl4_ 



PRESENTED BY 



/'?, 




V) 


»- 


cc 


H 


III 


(O 


1- 


fi 


cc 


3 


< 


< 


3 




a 




o 




< 




UJ 




I 




CO 




z 




O 




1- 




o 




z 




I 




CO 




< 




^ 





©tjp (H^mp on t\}t N^stjaming 



AN ADDRESS 



DELIVERED BEFORE THE 



PENNSYLVANIA SOCIETY 
OF SONS OF THE REVOLUTION 



AT WASHINGTON'S HEADQUARTERS 
ON THE LITTLE NESHAMINY 

BUCKS COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA 



June 20, 1903 



BY 



CHARLES HENRY JONES 

CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD OF MANAGERS 



d 



putal. 



1T77-The Camp on the Neshaminy-1903 



My Fellow-Members of the Sons of the Revolution. 

We have come out to this historic ground to show our interest 
in the movements of the Revolution; to note its progress, and 
to famiharize ourselves with its incidents and details; to gather 
such inspiration as we can from this venerated place, which is 
full of associations of the deepest interest to us, because over 
these hillsides and fields the main bod}^ of the Continental army, 
under Washington, was twice encamped, first on the night of 
July 31, 1777, and afterward for two weeks, from August 10 to 
August 23, 1777 — a longer time than it was encamped at any 
other place in Pennsylvania, with the exception of Whitemarsh 
and Valley Forge. 

Our presence to-day, in this place, where they spread their 
tents, makes us mindful of what they were; of the stern stuff 
out of which they were made; of the high aims that actuated 
them; of their patriotism, of which their conduct furnished the 
highest example; of what they were willing to suffer to uphold 
ther principle of human liberty, which was dearer to them than 
their lives; of what they were willing to sacrifice to maintain 
for themselves and their posterity that freedom of thought and 
action, those fundamental principles of self-government which 
they had inherited from the early pioneers who crossed the 
seas, a century before, to escape oppression. We are not always 
mindful of these things. It is well for us to recall them here. 

This place was not selected because it was a strong position. 
No entrenchments were thrown up. It was simply an encamp- 
ment, with no enemy near, or expected, where the Continental 
army, bewildered by the movements of General Howe, awaited 
the development of events. 

It is a beautiful spot as you see it to-day, with green meadows 
and a refreshing stream, in a rich and prosperous agricultural 

(3) 



country, remote and peaceful, in which this weary arm}^ after 
its long, hot and dusty march, was glad to rest. 

This region was settled by the Scotch-Irish as early as 1726, 
and was among the first and most noted of those settlements. 
Their descendants were staunch supporters of the cause of inde- 
pendence, and the army found itself in the midst of zealous 
friends here. One of those early settlers, who died before the 
Revolution, was William Miller, a founder of Neshaminy Church, 
who gave to it part of the graveyard, where the first church 
stood. Two of his descendants are members of this Society. 
Another was James Wallace, part of whose land, west of the 
York Road, was occupied by the camp, and one of whose de- 
scendants is a member of this Society. He was among the most 
prominent advocates of the cause in Bucks County; member 
of the local Committee of Safety; member of the Provincial 
Councils that met in Carpenters' Hall in 1774 and 1776, and 
Judge of the Courts of the county under the Constitution of 
1776. One of the descendants of these strong people, who was 
born here, was Rev. Daniel McCalla, scholar, graduate of Prince- 
ton, and Chaplain of the First Pennsylvania Battalion of the 
Continental Line, who was taken prisoner at Three Rivers. From 
the other side of Carr's Hill, came Colonel William Baxter, of 
the " Flying Camp," who was killed at the battle of Fort Wash- 
ington, November 16, 1776. 

The camp was called "Cross-Roads" and "Neshaminy 
Bridge," the first because the Old York Road and the road 
from Bristol to the northward (two old roads that were laid out 
before 171 1) crossed each other half a mile south of the Head- 
quarters; and the other after the old stone bridge that then 
spanned the creek. Washington also called it, sometimes, 
"Neshaminy Camp." 

The events which transpired here were commonplace and 
without interest in themselves. They are only made inter- 
esting by the immortal names with which they are associated, 
and because they have a place among the greater evfents which 
go before and follow after them in that epoch-marking period 
in the history of the world. 

This was a lull before the storm. Clouds were gathering at 
the North and at the South. The makers of the greatest empire 



the world has ever seen were waiting here for the storm to 
break. They were not only the soldiers who were fighting the 
battles that made the existence of this nation possible. Among 
them were also the statesmen, who afterward helped to lay the 
civic foundations of its greatness. This house was the tempo- 
rary home of the man who presided over the convention that 
framed the Constitution of the United States; who, as its first 
President, organized the government, and started it on its long 
career of prosperity. With him, as Aide-de-Camp, with the 
rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, was Alexander Hamilton, then only 
a youth of twenty, who was afterward, during its formative 
period, one of the country's greatest statesmen. On this hill- 
side was the tent of John Marshall, Captain of infantry in 
Maxwell's Brigade, who was afterward the great Chief Justice 
and expounder of the Constitution, at whose burial, sixty years 
later, the Liberty Bell was sounded for the last time. Near the 
"Cross- Roads" below, were the quarters of James Monroe, 
Major on the staff of Lord Stirling, another of the country's 
greatest statesmen, who, as its fifth President, promulgated the 
great American doctrine that bears his name. 

We, who, but a century later, are permitted to see the mag- 
nificent structure which time, and those who followed their 
example, have reared upon the foundations laid by them, may 
form some estimate of the wisdom which guided them, and the 
hopes and aspirations which sustained them, as they struggled 
on, with their slender resources, against almost insurmountable 
obstacles, until their work was done, and the end accomplished. 

The military movements of the year 1777 began at Princeton, 
and ended at Valley Forge. It was, in many respects, the most 
memorable year of the Revolution. It holds the cherished 
names of Princeton, Bennington, Brandywine, Paoli, German- 
town, Saratoga, Whitemarsh and Valley Forge. There is not 
such a cluster of names to be found in any other year of the 
Revolution. It was a year of more bloodshed, and perhaps of 
greater suffering. The British army was commanded by Sir 
William Howe. He on one side, and Washington on the other, 
had commanded the contending armies of the Revolution ever 
since the siege of Boston. One historian speaks of it as "the 
most arduous and eventful year of Washington's military life; 



6 

one of the most trying to his character and fortunes." With it 
the military career of Sir William Howe came to a close. He 
was not unlike Washington in appearance, tall, well-propor- 
tioned, dignified, courteous, and popular with his army. As 
opposing leaders in a great cause they had measured their 
strength with each other, and the British Ministry was not 
satisfied with the result; and so Sir William Howe passed from 
the scene. The situation was not improved by the appointment 
of Sir Henry Clinton as his successor. 

When the campaign of 1777 opened, the war had been in 
progress for two years. At the expiration of that time the 
British, who had undertaken the task of subjugating the 
Colonies, occupied no greater portion of them than the City of 
New York and the territory in its immediate vicinity. They 
had no foothold anywhere else. The British Ministry, there- 
fore, had determined to see if they could not accomplish greater 
results with reinforcements, and more energetic measures. The 
plan of campaign, as mapped out by them, seems plain to us, 
though it was the source of much perplexity to our ancestors. 
Burgoyne was to come down from the North, and separate the 
Eastern from the Southern Colonies. Sir William Howe was 
to capture Philadelphia. They tried both, accomplished nothing 
and lost much. The campaign was a complete failure. Bur- 
goyne surrendered at Saratoga, and though Howe took Phila- 
delphia, he nearly lost it at Germantown, and it was voluntarily 
evacuated by Sir Henry Clinton in the following June. It is 
this event we celebrate here to-day. At the end of another 
year — in the fall of 1778 — the situation was unchanged. Wash- 
ington was back in his old camp at Morristown, and the British 
army, under Sir Henry Clinton, was confined again to the City 
of New York and its vicinity — just where both armies had been 
two years before, when the campaign of 1777 opened. The 
situation was practically the same in the winter of 17 78-1 7 79 
that it had been in the winter of 1776-1777 — with this important 
difference, the British had lost one of their best equipped and 
most important armies (and by that misfortune had hastened 
the consummation of the treaty of alliance with France), and 
had suffered a virtual defeat at Monmouth. 

When the spring of 1777 opened, Washington's army was in 



the hills of Morristown. The British army, under Sir William 
Howe, was at Brunswick and Amboy, twenty miles below, and 
Burgoyne was in Canada. Washington's army was reduced to 
about 3,000 men, composed of the thin ranks of six or seven 
Continental regiments, and small bodies of New Jersey and 
Pennsylvania militia, upon whom little reliance could be placed. 
They were poorly officered and poorly equipped. Many of the 
officers were absent. As late as June, Arnold, who was in 
command at Philadelphia, reproached the great number of 
officers who were there, and ordered them to rejoin the army 
at once. 

There ^ d been great extremes of public feeling in Pennsyl- 
vania and New Jersey within the year. When Washington's 
army was fleeing across New Jersey, in November, 1776, the 
alarm and despondency of the patriots amounted almost to a 
panic. The Loyalists were elated and complacent; Congress 
made Washington military dictator, and fled precipitately to 
Baltimore. With Washington's brilliant successes in New 
Jersey, which followed, came a reaction of confidence, apathy, 
and supineness, and his army was now feeling the effect of it. 
The main body of the militia had gone to their homes after the 
victory at Princeton. The enlistments in the old Continental 
regiments, which were only for a year, had expired, and enlist- 
ments to fill up the Continental regiments under the new 
arrangement, which went into effect in January, were proceeding 
very slowly. The early enthusiasm of the war had subsided, 
and' the people were now confronted with its sober realities. 
Graydon, who visited Washington's camp at this time, says: 
"I had been extremely anxious to see our army. Here it was, 
but I could see nothing that deserved the name." The British 
army that was lying in front of it consisted of ten thousand 
well-uniformed, well-armed, well-officered, well-disciplined men. 
It was no wonder Washington was in a constant state of dread 
and anxiety lest they should discover his weakness. "Nothing 
but their ignorance of our numbers protects us at this very 
time," he wrote to Governor Trumbull of Connecticut. 

But, fortunately, this was not a season of military activity. 
The winter was long, and the cold intense. General Howe and 
his officers were passing it comfortably in New York. Sir Henry 



8 

Clinton had gone to England, and did not return until July. 
Washington, who had been ill, was administering the limited 
hospitalities of his camp at Morristown, assisted by Mrs. Wash- 
ington. 

General Howe had written to Lord George Germain in 
January that he intended, as soon as the season would permit, 
to penetrate into Pennsylvania with his main army, across 
New Jersey, but he was delayed in attempting this movement 
by the lines of determined men who held the hills at Morristown. 

His brother, Lord Howe, who was to support him with the 
navy, sent one James Molesworth to Philadelphia in March to 
procure pilots who were familiar with the channel of the Dela- 
ware. It was not a difficult matter, at that time, to pass from 
New York to Philadelphia through the lines of the armies. 
Molesworth lodged at Mrs. Yarnall's, on Chestnut street, and 
carried on his negotiations with the pilots at the house of a 
Mrs. McKay on Union street. The bargain was made and the 
money paid, but these pilots, whose names were Eldridge, 
Higgons and Snyder, proved to be patriots, and the conference 
ended in Molesworth's arrest. He was hanged a few days after- 
wards as a spy. The failure to get these pilots may have had 
some influence upon General Howe in his selection, later, of the 
route to Philadelphia, by the Chesapeake. 

As the season advanced, Washington received substantial 
reinforcements, and finding Howe very dilatory in his move- 
ments, he advanced his army to a strong position at Middle- 
brook, fifteen miles further south, on the Raritan River. General 
Howe, who was fully aware of the great superiority of his own 
army, marched it into the country below as soon as he learned 
of this movement, in the hope that he might draw Washington 
into a general engagement, and, by crushing his army, make 
the way to Philadelphia across New Jersey clear. There was 
some heavy skirmishing, but Washington was too prudent to 
leave his strong position and accept this unequal contest. He 
knew perfectly well that the British army would not dare to 
march for Philadelphia, and leave his army behind them. 
Stedman, the English historian, who was an eye-witness of 
these manoeuvres, writes that Howe "was thoroughly sensible 
of the impracticability of making an attack on Washington in 



9 

his present situation, for his camp extended along several hills, 
and was strongly fortified by intrenchments and artillery. He, 
therefore, made use of every possible effort to induce Washington 
to quit his position and hazard an engagement. The American 
General, however, easily penetrated into the designs of Howe, 
and eluded them by his cool, collected and prudent conduct." 

With no little disappointment, Howe now reluctantly aban- 
doned his plan of moving against Philadelphia across New 
Jersey. He withdrew all his forces to Amboy, marched them 
across a pontoon bridge to Staten Island, evacuated New Jersey, 
and began the embarkation of his army upon the vessels of the 
fleet that was lying in those waters. 

This was the second time Washington had frustrated Howe's 
plans of approaching Philadelphia by the way of New Jersey, 
but it did not affect Howe's determination to move against that 
city. When he heard of the fall of Ticonderoga he wrote to 
Burgoyne from Staten Island wishing him success, and informing 
him of his intention to go to Pennsylvania, where he expected 
to meet Washington. Lord George Germain had written to 
General Howe that if he moved against Philadelphia he hoped 
he would return in time to cooperate with Burgoyne. The 
British Ministry did not understand the problem with which 
they were dealing. If General Howe ever entertained any such 
thoughts, the impracticability of the plan became clear to him 
as soon as he was obliged to evacuate New Jersey and take the 
long route to Philadelphia by the way of the Chesapeake. At 
that time he made up his mind that he would have to leave 
Burgoyne to his own fortunes, or to such assistance as he might 
receive from Sir Henry Clinton, who later pushed up the Hudson 
and captured Forts Clinton and Montgomery. Lord George 
Germain's letter did not reach General Howe until after he had 
entered the Chesapeake, and, of course, it was then too late to 
change his plans. After that his attention was so completely 
occupied by Washington that he had no time to think of 
Burgoyne. 

From the time Howe put his army on board the fleet at Staten 
Island until Washington broke camp on the banks of the 
Neshaminy, Howe's movements were the source of painful con- 
jecture, uncertainty and anxiety to him. For two months he 



10 

was in a constant state of perplexity and unrest. Much of this, 
as we are able to see the situation now, seems to have been 
unnecessary; but in the fierce light that always beat upon him, 
in view of the great responsibility that always rested upon him, 
and of his limited sources of information, we can easily under- 
stand how such doubts and perplexities were natural. 

What was to be the destination of that fleet? Washington's 
belief that Howe's object was Philadelphia still amounted almost 
to a conviction, but it had long been the cherished object of 
the British to gain control of the Valley of the Hudson, and 
cut off all intercourse between the Eastern and Southern Colo- 
nies. It had been the object of Sir Guy Carleton, when he 
unsuccessfully besieged Ticonderoga in the fall of 1776. It was 
the object of Burgoyne in 1777, who was now leading the same 
army down from the North. Having failed to accomplish it with 
these armies, the British attempted it later through the treason 
of Arnold. It was a military object of the greatest importance; 
of greater importance than Philadelphia. Washington undoubt- 
edly so considered it. It seemed clearly the policy of Howe to 
sail up the Hudson and assist Burgoyne, with all his power, in 
his effort to accomplish this most coveted object, and Wash- 
ington, very naturally, could not rid his mind of the fear that 
it might be Howe's intention to do so. There was no indication 
of it, but the possibility of it raised serious doubts in Washing- 
ton's mind, and while these doubts were there he felt that he 
could not safely put either the Highlands of the Hudson or 
Philadelphia beyond his reach. They were a hundred and fifty 
miles apart. He had not his enemy's easy means of trans- 
portation by water at his command. That long distance had 
to be covered on foot in the sweltering heat of a midsummer's 
sun. 

Weighing the possibilities of Howe's destination, and the 
serious problems it involved, in his mind, Washington took his 
army back to Morristown. Here he received the depressing 
and unexpected news of the fall of Ticonderoga. This event 
gave rise to such forebodings in the mind of Washington, that 
Philadelphia was lost sight of entirely. Burgoyne having at 
last succeeded in breaking through the gates of the North, there 
was no longer any doubt in Washington's mind that the two 



11 

Howes would attempt to pass the Highlands of the Hudson and 
cooperate with Burgoyne. Having jumped at this conclusion, 
Washington, without waiting for Howe's fleet to sail, ordered 
the army to march toward the Hudson. Then began those 
long marches and countermarches between the Hudson and 
Philadelphia, through the shifting conditions of doubt and 
uncertainty which, from time to time, possessed the minds of 
Washington and his Generals (often, it would seem, unneces- 
sarily), and which only ended when the army left the camp on 
the Neshaminy for the battlefield of Brandywine. Fortunately 
it was summer, and the roads were smooth, and they did not 
suffer in their ragged clothing and broken shoes. But it was 
the clemency of the season alone that protected them, for they 
were no better clad than they were at Trenton the winter before, 
or at Valley Forge the winter after. 

On July 1 1 the army left Morristown, and marched northward 
through the hill country of New Jersey into Orange County, 
New York. Washington felt so certain that it was Howe's 
intention to ascend the Hudson, that he ordered Lord Stirling's 
division to cross the river to Peekskill, where Sullivan's division 
was already stationed. Washington at first made his head- 
quarters at Suffern's Tavern, while the army was encamped in 
a wild ravine called the Clove. Afterwards, as his forecast of 
the campaign suggested, he moved his headquarters eleven miles 
into the Clove, to an old log house called Galloways. 

Howe's fleet, which had been collecting for two or three days 
outside the Narrows, put to sea at seven o'clock on the morning 
of Wednesday, July 23, and sailed in a southeasterly direction 
before a northwest wind. His army on board this fleet, which 
had recently been reinforced by fresh English and Hessian 
troops, consisted of about 18,000 men. When news of this 
event reached Washington, he felt that his hold upon the Hudson 
was a little more secure, and his fears for Philadelphia began to 
revive. He at once requested Congress to station trustworthy 
lookouts at Cape May, and speedily advise him if the fleet 
appeared there. "Our situation is already critical," he wrote 
to Congress, "and may be rendered more so by inaccurate and 
ill-grounded intelligence." He ordered Sullivan's and Lord 
Stirling's divisions to recross the Hudson from Peekskill, and 



12 

proceed toward Philadelphia, and he inoved with his own army, 
by easy marches, across Northern New Jersey, toward Coryell's 
Ferry on the Delaware. While on the march an intercepted 
letter from Howe to Burgoyne fell into Washington's hands, 
stating that Howe's fleet had sailed for Boston. Washington 
was not deceived by it. "It was evidently intended to fall into 
our hands," he wrote to Putnam, "and I am persuaded more 
than ever that Philadelphia is the place of destination." 

Sullivan's division, composed of Smallwood's and DeBorre's 
brigades, was halted at Hanover, New Jersey. On the twenty- 
eighth of July, Washington, with Greene's and Lincoln's divis- 
ions, arrived at Coryell's Ferry (now Lambert ville), where the 
river is deep and rapid, and about four hundred yards wide. 
Stephen's division arrived at Howell's Ferry (now Stockton), 
three miles above, and Lord Stirling's division, which had 
marched by the way of Princeton, arrived at Trenton about the 
same time. General Lincoln was not in command of his 
division, having been detailed to the command of militia in the 
Northern army. 

At these three places on the east bank of the Delaware, the 
army waited for further news from the fleet. Washington had 
not been advised that it had been seen, in the meantime, off 
Little Egg Harbor, New Jersey, on Sunday the twenty-seventh. 
He describes the situation, as it impressed him while he was 
waiting at Coryell's Ferry, as wearing "a dark and gloomy 
aspect." 

While the army was thus resting on the east bank of the 
Delaware, the west bank, with its fords and ferries, was guarded 
by a part of the Second Pennsylvania Regiment of the Conti- 
nental Line, and militia from the neighboring country, under 
General Mifflin. 

At half-past nine on the morning of the thirty-first, an express 
arrived at Washington's headquarters from the President of 
Congress with the news that Howe's fleet, consisting of 228 sail, 
had been seen off the Capes of the Delaware. The man who 
carried this news from Cape May to Philadelphia was Abraham 
Bennett, and he discharged his duty so well that the news 
reached Washington, one hundred and thirty miles from Cape 
May, in twenty-two hours after the fleet was seen there. You 



13 

can picture this man, on that hard, lonely ride through the 
sands and pines of New Jersey, on that hot day and night, 
faithfully bearing news which he felt was of vital import to his 
country. Washington being anxious about the defences of the 
Delaware, and expecting the fleet to arrive there at any time, 
hastened on to Philadelphia ahead of the army, and arrived 
there at ten o'clock that night. 

There was a heavy fog off the Capes on the 26th, 27th and 
28th; after that the weather was clear, but the fleet did not 
appear until eleven o'clock on the morning of the 30th. It 
remained in sight for about a day and a half. Twice during 
that time it could have entered the bay without difficulty before 
favorable winds. But General Howe had no intention of 
ascending the Delaware. Nothing that occurred at the Capes 
during his brief stay could have affected his plans in the slightest 
degree. He had no communication with the shore. If he had 
wished to enter the bay and sail up the river, there was nothing 
to prevent him, unless it was the want of pilots. The wind was 
favorable, and the way was clear. He could have landed much 
nearer Philadelphia, and saved much time, by the way of the 
Delaware, but for some reason, which has not been explained, 
he determined, before he left Sandy Hook, to go by the way of 
the Chesapeake. He sailed down the coast and was seen off 
Egg Harbor, Cape May, Sinepuxent, and the Capes of the 
Chesapeake; nowhere else. He could know nothing of the 
movements of Washington's army until he reached his destina- 
tion. Yet Washington at no time believed that the Chesapeake 
was Howe's destination. Howe's fleet was a very large and 
cumbersome one. He may have selected the Chesapeake 
because he failed to get his Delaware pilots, or, it may have 
been because the Delaware river and bay are full of shoals and 
very difficult to navigate, while the Chesapeake is comparatively 
simple, being practically one clear channel from shore to shore. 
It is as difficult now to understand his motives as it is to explain 
why he was so long in getting away from Sandy Hook, and 
why he took three weeks, at the best season of the year, to 
make a voyage of 300 miles, that he might easily have made 
in five days. Another explanation is found in the advice given 
to General Howe and his brother, by General Charles Lee, while 



14 

the latter was a prisoner in New York. Lee made an exag- 
gerated statement to the Howes of the strength of the loyal 
sentiment in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia, and he 
assured them that these three States could easily be pacified 
if they established themselves firmly at Annapolis, Alexandria 
and Philadelphia. His views seem to have convinced the 
Howes that this was of vastly more importance than the pos- 
session of the Hudson. The plan he suggested was for Howe to 
march with his main army across New Jersey, take Philadelphia, 
and send troops around by the Chesapeake to occupy Annapolis 
and Alexandria. As Howe found it impossible to cross New 
Jersey, he may have determined to carry out this whole plan 
by the way of the Chesapeake. 

On the day following his arrival in Philadelphia, Washington 
met Lafayette, who had just arrived from France by the way 
of Charleston, and invited him to become a member of his 
military family at camp. Together they spent the day in 
inspecting Fort Mifflin, Red Bank, and Billingsport, and went 
on to Marcus Hook and Chester. At ten o'clock that night, 
while at the latter place, Washington was much surprised to 
learn that the fleet had disappeared from the Capes of the 
Delaware in an easterly direction. What had seemed to be a 
solution of the military problem that had recently given him 
so much concern, had now been dissipated. All his painful 
uncertainty of mind as to the meaning of Howe's movements 
returned. "This surprising event," he wrote, "gives me the 
greatest anxiety." Was it Howe's intention, after all, to return 
to the support of Burgoyne? Had this movement of the fleet 
only been a feint to weary and exhaust his army? Was Howe 
bound still further South with the intention of drawing his army 
after him to a point from which it would be impossible to return, 
in time to defend the Hudson? Of these two alternative pos- 
sibilities, Washington selected the former. From Chester he 
ordered Sullivan, whom he had left at Hanover, to countermarch 
his division to the Hudson with all possible expedition. "There 
is strong reason to believe," he wrote to him, "that the North 
River is their object, and that they will make a rapid push to 
obtain possession of our posts there." He also wrote a letter 
to General Putnam, later, from the Neshaminy, which shows 



15 

that he adhered to this opinion until he was stopped at this 
camp by the news that the fleet had been seen off Sinepuxent 
Inlet. 

After Washington left the army at Coryell's Ferry, the 
divisions of Greene, Stephen, Lincoln and Stirling immediately 
crossed the Delaware into Pennsylvania, and Greene's, Stephen's 
and Lincoln's divisions marched down the Old York Road 
fifteen miles to the valley of the little Neshaminy, where we 
now are. Here they camped for the night. Lord Stirling's 
division crossed at Trenton and marched by another route. At 
six o'clock on Friday morning, August i, the army resunied 
its march down the Old York Road to the camp at the Falls 
of Schuylkill, where the Queen Lane Reservoir now stands. 
Here Washington, who had spent Saturday and Sunday in 
Philadelphia, rejoined the army on the 4th. At this camp they 
waited impatiently four days longer, for further intelligence, 
and as none came, Washington made up his mind that there 
was no probability of the fleet's return. He began to feel very 
uneasy so far out of reach of the Hudson, and he felt too that 
the proximity of the city was demoralizing to the army; so he 
determined to countermarch to the Delaware. "We have no 
further account of the enemy's fleet," he wrote to John Augus- 
tine Washington, "and therefore, concluding that they are gone 
to the eastward, we have again turned our faces that way and 
shall move slow till we get some account of it." The waggoners 
with the heavy baggage of all brigades had been ordered to 
proceed to Coryell's Ferry, cross the Delaware, and wait on the 
other side for further orders. The month of August was uni- 
formly and intensely hot. As the army had no definite object 
in view, and as the weather was oppressive, it marched north- 
ward slowly, and by easy stages on the 8th. The officers were 
not familiar with the roads of Pennsylvania. There were no 
maps worthy of the name. At Washington's request, the 
Executive Council had prepared one for his use in this campaign, 
but it was made hurriedly and was inaccurate and misleading. 
We find the army, therefore, marching out of its way through 
Germantown and Chestnut Hill to Whitemarsh, where it 
bivouacked for the night. Next day (the 9th) it changed its 
direction to the eastward and encamped again in Upper Dublin 



16 

Township. In the cool of the afternoon of Saturday, the loth, 
the march was resumed leisurely toward Coryell's Ferry. At 
nine o'clock that night, when the advance had gotten as far 
as the Neshan:iiny, it was overtaken by an express from Congress 
with the information that the fleet had been seen off Sinepuxent 
Inlet, fifty miles south of Delaware Bay, on Thursday, August 7. 
Upon the receipt of this information, the army was halted, and 
pitched its tents, or such of them as it had, for 1,700 intended 
for this army had been captured by the British in the recent 
affair at Danbury, Connecticut. That is how the army came to 
encamp on the Neshaminy, and that is how this camp came to 
be the pivot upon which the campaign turned. "The troops 
are encamped near the road," wrote Washington to the President 
of Congress on the loth, "where they will remain till I have 
further accounts of the fleet." It was the same place in which 
they had encamped while going the other way, on the evening 
of July 31. 

We will leave them there while I call your attention, for a 
few minutes, to the state of affairs then existing in Pennsylvania. 

As soon as the new government was organized under the State 
Constitution of 1776, a law was adopted requiring all citizens 
to take an oath of allegiance to it. It was called the "test law," 
and was distasteful to large numbers of the people. Many 
refused to take the oath because they were still firm in their 
allegiance to the King and would not renounce it. Others took 
it reluctantly. Others, who had openly cast their lot with the 
patriots, thought it was unnecessary, and put it off from time 
to time. So tardy were the people in taking this oath that the 
appointment of minor officers in some of the counties was 
delayed, because there were not enough qualified persons to 
fill the places. 

A militia law was also enacted. This law provided for the 
enrollment of all citizens between the ages of eighteen and fifty- 
three, and for the enlistment of substitutes to fill the places of 
all those who refused to march within three days after they 
were called out. Efforts were made, through the lieutenants 
and sub-lieutenants of the counties, to arrange the militia into 
classes and organize them, but this task was found to be by no 
means an easy one. 



17 

The functions of the new government do not seem to have 
been performed in any of its branches with that energy which 
the exigencies of the times demanded. Congress declared by 
formal resolutions that the Executive authority of Pennsylvania 
was "incapable of any exertion adequate to the present crisis," 
and that "it was impracticable to carry into execution many 
measures of the utmost importance" because the Assembly and 
the Executive Council did not perform their duties. They even 
went so far as to request the President of the Council, and 
others, to assume arbitrary control of affairs, and the people 
were asked to submit to their authority. 

The Continental Congress and the Supreme Executive Council 
of Pennsylvania were in session at Philadelphia. The Assembly 
also sat there for a few weeks in May and June, often without a 
quorum, and had adjourned until the 3d of September. 

When the British army, at Amboy and Brunswick, began to 
show signs of life in the spring of 1777, the authorities at Phila- 
delphia were afraid General Howe would again attempt to cross 
New Jersey and capture Philadelphia. Thomas Wharton, Jr., 
President of the Executive Council, strongly urged the people, 
in a proclamation, to prepare for this danger. This was followed 
by some excitement. The militia of the neighborhood was 
hurried to the west bank of the Delaware, and Benedict Arnold 
was placed in command. This excitement entirely subsided 
when it was learned that Howe had evacuated New Jersey and 
embarked his army on board the fleet, and that the Continental 
army had marched to the Hudsoit. It was rekindled, however, 
with renewed strength, when it was learned that Howe's fleet 
had put to sea, and Washington's army was marching toward 
the Delaware. Three trustworthy men were sent, at Washing- 
ton's request, to watch for the fleet at Cape May. Large 
numbers of people left Philadelphia (which was then a small 
town of 22,000 inhabitants, included within Callowhill, South 
and Seventh streets, and the Delaware River), and filled up the 
smaller towns and country houses in the interior. Active steps 
were taken to put the forts on the Delaware, below Philadelphia, 
in good condition. Surveying parties were sent down the Dela- 
ware to survey the ground on both sides of the river, where the 
enemy would be likely to land. Committees were appointed to 



18 

drive all cattle and other livestock into the interior. Leaden 
spouts were taken down from the houses to be melted into 
bullets. Bells were removed from the churches. Horses were 
collected for the artillery. Committees were appointed to 
search for and take an account of all grain and flour in the 
neighborhood. Farmers were kept busy threshing out the grain, 
and the mills in grinding it. Wool was scarce. All material 
rose in value. Wages were doubled. The price of all the 
necessaries of life became so exorbitant that it was made the 
subject of a communication by Washington to Congress from 
this camp. All the unsettled conditions of war were severely 
felt, aggravated by serious internal dissensions. Blankets and 
clothing were collected for the army and the militia. Where 
they could not be purchased, they were impressed — taking one 
blanket for every bed there was in a house. At the request of 
General Mifflin, the constables of the townships were ordered to 
collect from the farmers, and send to Philadelphia, hundreds of 
four-horse wagons, in consequence of which the ground, in 
many districts, was left unplowed. These wagons were 
intended for the use of the army and for the removal of stores 
from the city. Congress called upon Pennsylvania to furnish 
its full quota for the Continental army, and bounties were 
offered for enlistments, but they were retarded by the large 
bounties paid to substitutes in the militia. The militia was 
called out and placed under the command of Generals Arm- 
strong, Potter and James Irvine, but though the harvest was 
over they were very lukewarm, and had to be called out again 
and again. A great many refused to respond to the call, and 
of those who turned out many would not bring their arms with 
them, because they did not believe they would be paid for them 
if they were lost. Only a thousand militiamen had assembled 
at Chester, the place selected for their mobilization, by the middle 
of August. A very large portion of these were substitutes, who 
had received a bounty of from $50 to $60 apiece for a 
service of two months. Large sums of money had been paid 
out of the public treasury for this purpose, and it was one of 
the reasons assigned why the treasury was empty, and money 
had to be borrowed again and again from Congress. This was 
ail very unlike Bennington and Saratoga, where, about the same 



19 

time, the whole country rose up and crushed the army of 
Burgoyne. If this same spirit had prevailed here, if the Penn- 
sylvania militia had fought at Brandywine as they did at 
Princeton, Howe might have met the fate of Burgoyne there. 
It is worth while to pause and frankly reflect upon the great 
disadvantages Washington labored under from this condition of 
public affairs in this neighborhood. Graydon, who rode through 
the country from Morristown to Philadelphia ahead of Wash- 
ington's army, says, in his memoirs, "We saw to our great 
surprise no military parade on our journey, nor any indication 
of martial vigor on the part of the country. Here and there 
we saw a militiaman with his contrasted colored cape and 
facings, and we found besides that captains, majors and colonels 
had become cheap in the land. But unfortunately these war 
functionaries were not found at the head of their men. They 
more generally figured as bar-keepers." 

A feeling of great relief was experienced by the community 
when it was learned that Howe's fleet had sailed away from the 
Capes of the Delaware, for the wind had been so favorable that 
their arrival below Philadelphia was hourly expected. There 
seemed to be a feeling of confidence that the fleet would never 
return. The Executive Council even went so far as to ask 
Congress if part of the militia could not now be spared, as it 
was time to plant the winter wheat. They also seemed so 
blind to their own peril that they were making an effort to 
send 750 militia to reinforce the Northern army, and did not 
revoke the order until they were suddenly awakened later on 
by the fact that they needed every man they could get, and 
more too, for their own protection. 

As more than a year had elapsed since the Declaration of 
Independence, and the new government was still holding its 
own, a more decided feeling of confidence prevailed than that 
of the year before. Congress remained at its post for a week 
after the defeat at Brandywine, as Washington was still obstruct- 
ing the way to Philadelphia. Extreme measures were adopted, 
for the first time, against the Loyalists. The writ of habeas 
corpus was suspended. The houses of disaffected persons were 
searched for arms. Persons over eighteen years of age entering 
or leaving the State, who refused to take the oath of allegiance, 



20 

were treated as spies, arrested and committed to jail. Almost 
as much time was consumed in disposing of the Loyalists and 
disaffected persons as was given to measures of defence. Political 
prisoners in the jails at Philadelphia were removed to places of 
greater security. On the recommendation of Congress, John 
Penn, the last of the Proprietary Governors, and many of the 
most prominent citizens of the State, were arrested. Some were 
paroled, others imprisoned, and many were sent into exile to 
Virginia. Those who declined to take the oath of allegiance 
were disarmed, and it sometimes required the assistance of the 
militia to do it. 

The struggle for independence in Pennsylvania was not marked 
by that spirit of enthusiasm which comes only when men are 
all of one mind in the pursuit of some great purpose; that 
inspires only men moving in great masses. Its delegates in 
Congress had only voted in favor of Independence by a tardy 
casting vote. The Pennsylvania patriot, instead of being stimu- 
lated by the earnestness of his neighbors, and encouraged by 
their cooperation, was very often chilled by their indifference, 
restrained by their opposition, or irritated by their want of 
patriotism. The whole community was unsettled by the most 
serious division of sentiment. The Loyalists who preferred the 
dynasty of the King, were numerous and prominent. Among 
the staunchest of these were the foreigners who had been 
naturalized in the Province, which required seven years' resi- 
dence, and the taking of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper. 

The Society of Friends, and the Mennonites, opposed the 
Revolution from conscientious scruples. The former had always 
been powerful in the Province. The latter, which was also £ 
strong sect, resisted the collection of the militia fines with force. 
There were others, who, though not avowed in their opposition, 
were captioiis about measures, or indifferent, and there were 
those who were held in a neutral attitude by the division of 
sentiment among the people of the State. When Philadelphia 
was illuminated on the night of July 4, 1777 — the first anni- 
versary of Independence — it was necessary to patrol the streets 
and order the lights put out at eleven o'clock, to prevent rioting 
and disorder. The patriot in Pennsylvania, who manfully 
upheld the cause amid such difficulties as these, becomes, 



21 

therefore, a grander figure than he is elsewhere. But this was 
not all. The patriots were divided among themselves. Some 
of them allowed their interest in the cause to be weakened by 
their dissatisfaction with the new State government, which had 
just been organized. Others allowed their interest to be diverted 
by local partisan controversies. The political atmosphere was 
by no means clear. Party feeling ran very high. The change 
from the old system to the new was so radical that there was 
room for the widest speculation and difference of opinion as to 
the plan upon which the new government should be formed. 
It was quite natural for the drift of popular sentiment to run 
from one extreme to the other. The subject was a new one. 
They did not have, as a guide, the plan of government laid out 
in the Constitution of the United States, which they afterwards 
followed. The liberal party had just succeeded in establishing 
a popular form of State government by the adoption of the 
Constitution of 1776. This Constitution was a very crude 
instrument and survived only fourteen years. The elections 
under it resulted in sending to the Assembly men of very 
different character from those who had composed the old Colonial 
body. The Conservatives, among whom were many of the most 
cultured and refined inhabitants, had been willing to compro- 
mise upon a legislature composed of two bodies with an upper 
house so constituted that it would be a check upon the more 
democratic tendencies of the lower body, after the English 
system, and having failed to obtain even that, they were dis- 
posed, in their chagrin, to find fault with pretty much everything 
and everybody. Even Washington and the Generals of the 
army were not spared. They denounced the new administra- 
tion as a "mob government." They declared that "power had 
fallen into low hands." This government was new, and strange, 
and distasteful to them, and they did not hesitate to repudiate 
it. It did not impress them with any sense of obligation to 
respect its authority. They easily found reasons why they 
should not do so. The spirit of independence that had thrown 
off the old yoke made them loath to submit their necks to the 
new, or to recognize the right of others to place it there. They 
demanded a new Convention, and a year later prevailed upon 
General Wayne, with his military prestige, to return to Penn- 



22 

sylvania and help them reconstruct the Constitution, which 
they declared was the work of only a few scheming men. They 
proclaimed that the Assembly had not been regularly chosen, 
and that, therefore, its laws were void; that it had been elected 
by a lot of soldiers and apprentice boys. This language suffi- 
ciently indicates the bitterness into which this partisan feeling 
ran, and the extent to which the cause of independence was 
weakened by this confusion of interest and dispute about State 
issues among its friends. 

This, in brief, was the state of affairs Washington found in 
Pennsylvania at the time his army was encamped on the 
Neshaminy. 

The army that went into camp on the Neshaminy was com- 
posed of troops from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, 
Virginia and North Carolina. Its rank and file were chiefly 
raw recruits that had been gotten together during the spring 
and summer months. It was divided into seven brigades, com- 
manded by Brigadier-Generals Maxwell, Wayne, Muhlenberg, 
Weedon, Woodford, Scott, and Conway. These brigades were 
formed into four divisions, commanded by Major-Generals 
Nathaniel Greene, Lord Stirling, Adam Stephen, and Brigadier- 
General Anthony Wayne, who commanded Lincoln's division. 
The artillery, which had been enlisted chiefly in Massachusetts, 
was commanded by General Henry Knox. The cavalry con- 
sisted of Colonel Stephen Moylan's Pennsylvania Regiment, 
Colonel Armand's Legion, and Sheldon's, Bland's and Baylor's 
regiments. The twelve Pennsylvania regiments of the Conti- 
nental Line were at this camp. The First, Second, Fourth, 
Fifth, Seventh, Eighth, Tenth and Eleventh were under Wayne's 
command. The Third, Sixth, Ninth and Twelfth were in Con- 
way's brigade. According to the impartial testimony of General 
Conway, they composed "the strong half of the army." It was 
at a board of general officers held on the 14th in General 
Greene's tent that the disputed question of rank among the 
field officers of the Pennsylvania Line was finally settled. 

The camp lay in the charming valley of the Neshaminy, on 
both sides of the Old York Road; on the slope of Carr's hill to 
the north; between the creek and the " Cross- Roads " to the 




UJ 

I 

H 

Z 
O 

CO 

cc 

Ul 

H 
< 

Z) 

a 

Q 
< 

UJ 

I 

CO 

z 

o 

H 

z 
I 

CO 

< 



23 

south, and on both sides of the Bristol Road, where Lord Stir- 
Hng's division was encamped. On the south side of this road, 
in Warminster Township, was the camp of General Conway's 
brigade, with its four Pennsylvania regiments. A little further 
to the southeast was the corral where the horses and wagons 
and the cattle were kept. Here also were the forges of the 
blacksmiths. A short distance above the York Road, on the 
north side of the creek, stands the Neshaminy Presbyterian 
Church, surrounded by its ample close of greensward, and 
spreading trees. It was used as a hospital, and courts-martial 
were often held there. Beyond it, on higher ground, is the 
graveyard, in which soldiers who died at this camp are buried. 
There are several old buildings near the Headquarters, still 
standing, in which the general officers of the army made their 
headquarters. The view from the top of Carr's hill, over the 
camp and the valley, was an extended and beautiful one. The 
army, composed of eleven thousand men, spread out below, 
covered the whole country from the top of this hill to the 
Bristol Road beyond — a tented city, half the size of Philadelphia. 
On the corner, as you turned into the York Road this morning, 
stood the tavern, within the lines of the camp, which was 
brought into active competition with the sutlers who followed 
the army, to such an extent that it became necessary for a 
board of officers to meet there, upon one occasion, to settle the 
differences between them. This tavern might now be called a 
"canteen." The troops were abundantly supplied with vege- 
tables by the surrounding country people. The soldiers built 
booths before their tents to protect them from the heat. Each 
brigade set up its bake-oven. Barrels were sunk in the soft 
ground where spring water was to be found. Precautions were 
taken against the pollution of the creek. The post office was 
established near the headquarters, where stationery was sold, 
and special instructions were given to protect the inhabitants 
from insult and from injury to themselves and their fences. 

Lafayette has left a description of this army as it appeared to 
him at that time. " Eleven thousand men, but tolerabl}'- armed, 
and still worse clad, presented a singular spectacle in their parti- 
colored and often naked state. The best dresses were hunting- 
shirts of brown linen. Their tactics were equally irregular. 



24 

They were arranged without regard to size, excepting that the 
smallest men were in the front rank. With all this they 
were good looking soldiers, conducted by zealous officers." 
Another described the impression they made upon him. "Our 
soldiers have not yet quite the air of soldiers. They don't 
step exactly in time. They don't hold up their heads quite 
erect, nor turn out their toes so exactly as they ought. They 
don't all of them cock their hats, and such as do, don't all wear 
them the same way." 

Washington apologized for their appearance to Lafayette. 
"We ought to feel embarrassed," he said, "in presenting our- 
selves before an officer just from the French army." 

"It is to learn, not to instruct," was Lafayette's apt reply. 

They were not in any sense veterans or professional soldiers. 
They were patriots who had taken the field at great sacrifice 
to defend their rights and liberties against an army composed 
of English soldiers who were actuated only by a sense of duty 
to their King, and of Germans who had been hired to subjugate 
them. There was nothing in this army to attract them, outside 
of the purpose it had been organized to serve. They were 
wretchedly clad, and poorly fed. Their pay was uncertain. 
The commissariat, such as it was, was unreliable. They were 
the soldiers of a weak and tentative government, which was 
not to be organized upon a firm and stable basis for a decade 
to come. They were footsore from long marches and dis- 
couraged by the outlook of affairs. They were in want of almost 
everything. They were on the defensive. The problem of 
Independence was still unsolved. It was hopeful, but it was by 
no means assured. . Everything was involved in doubt and 
uncertainty. The tragic events of the campaign of 1777 were 
still before them. They were watching and straining their wits 
to understand the movements of one of the best armies the 
military systems of England and Germany could devise — 
superior to them in everything but their manhood, and the 
spirit which animated them. A lady who saw the British army 
enter Philadelphia a few weeks later says of it: "They looked 
well, clean, and well-clad, and the contrast between them and 
our poor, barefooted and ragged troops was very great, and 
caused a feeling of despair." 



25 

They were commanded by a man of great and noble qualities, 
who never failed to appreciate the motives that had brought 
them under his command, and who was as much a father to 
them as their commanding officer. Though himself a soldier of 
large experience, who understood the value and importance of 
discipline, he appreciated the fact that they were not soldiers 
by profession, and he was very forbearing, patient and con- 
siderate. Though some of them were convicted at this camp of 
oifences punishable by the articles of war with death, he pardoned 
them. Though he felt obliged to approve the death sentence 
of a soldier in Colonel Moylan's regiment, he respited him until 
further orders. The discipline of the camp was very lax. 
Saluting of officers was dispensed with. Courts-martial were 
very frequent, but their proceedings were often interrupted 
by the neglect of officers to attend them. Many officers 
were absent from camp without leave, or on indefinite leaves 
of absence. The misconduct of the officers was so serious 
and so frequent, that it called forth the following gentle 
rebuke from Washington: "The Commander-in-Chief regrets 
that he is so frequently obliged to censure officers in general 
orders for neglect of duty and other offences, and wishes 
earnestly that by an attentive and punctual discharge of their 
duty they would save him from a task so disagreeable and 
painful." Sentinels sat down at their posts, though severely 
and repeatedly reprimanded for it. Two of them who were 
convicted of sleeping while on duty received no greater punish- 
ment than twenty or thirty lashes on their bare backs. Deser- 
tions were frequent, yet those who were retaken were pardoned. 
The men appeared on parade without their uniforms, and it 
was found necessary to threaten every soldier with the whipping- 
post who appeared there without clean hands and faces, without 
being cleanly shaved, and without his hair being powdered. In 
order that they might have no excuse, five ounces of soap were 
issued to each man weekly — more regularly than many of the 
other necessaries of life. 

This is a candid description of the Continental army as it 
appeared at this camp upon the eve of the battle of Brandywine. 

The whipping-post, at which the delinquents expiated their 
offences, was erected by the roadside opposite the headquarters. 



26 

Here the lashes were often well laid on their bare backs, some- 
times as high as a hundred at a time. Near it was the board 
on which the daily orders and bulletins of the army were posted. 

Efforts were made at this camp to improve the time by 
getting the army into as good condition as possible, but some 
idea may be formed from what has been said of the discipline of 
the Continental army before it was whipped into better shape 
by Baron Steuben at Valley Forge. As is always the case, one 
does not hear of the conduct of the great body of this patriot 
army, who never failed, even in the smallest details, of their duty. 

The routine of camp life was monotonous, the days long and 
sultry, but the army was refreshed by a heavy rain on the i6th, 
which made the ground so wet that the surrounding country 
was scoured for straw to make the troops comfortable. On 
Sunday, the 17th, a gill of rum was issued to each of them. 

A line of sentries was always maintained around the camp, 
and parades were held every afternoon at five o'clock. It was 
the custom for the officers of the day to dine with the Com- 
mander-in-Chief at headquarters. Quite a stir was created in 
camp one day because some one had stolen a pair of silver- 
mounted pistols with "screw-barrels" from the holsters of 
Major Nicholas of the Tenth Virginia Regiment. 

Upon one occasion General Muhlenberg was requested, in 
orders, to place a guard over Mr. Miller's oats, which were about 
a quarter of a mile northwest of the headquarters. A hundred 
and twenty-six crops have been harvested from those fields 
since then, and their owners have been forgotten, but this par- 
ticular crop of oats won for Mr. William Miller's name a place in 
history. 

It was from this camp on the south side of the Bristol Road 
that the captious Conway wrote his letters, dated Warminster, 
to the Executive Council, complaining that the ranks of his 
regiments continued so slim ; that his troops were being enticed 
away by the large bounties paid for substitutes in the Pennsyl- 
vania militia, explaining to them that the militia were "abso- 
lutely good for nothing," and advising them what disposition 
they had better make of them. He also complained that his 
men were being persuaded to join the Georgia regiments, a 
statement which, upon investigation t)y a board of general 
officers held here, was pronounced to be without foundation. 



27 

"I find," he writes, "that your troops make up the strong half 
of this army, and although your regiments are not where they 
should or might be, yet they seem to me beyond the others." 

It was during this campaign that the American flag, which 
was adopted by Congress, June 14, 1777, was first carried by 
the Continental army. 

It was at this camp that Washington received news of the 
bloody affair with the Indians at Oriskany, when he detached 
Morgan's riflemen, "contrary to his wishes, but from the neces- 
sity of the case," to reinforce the Northern army. This corps, 
500 strong, were among his best troops, as it was composed of 
men selected from the army at large who were well acquainted 
with the use of the rifle. 

It was here the army was encouraged by the news of the 
brilliant victory of Stark at Bennington, which was announced 
in general orders, and properly celebrated. "As there is not 
now the least danger of General Howe's going to New England," 
Washington wrote from this house to Putnam, "I hope the 
whole force of that country will turn out, and by following the 
great stroke struck by General Stark near Bennington, entirely 
crush General Burgoyne." 

Washington, while he occupied this house, was not only 
engrossed with the affairs of his own army, which were serious 
and troublesome, but he was obliged to give his attention to 
the affairs of the Northern army, which was also under his 
supervision. From this house he carried on his correspondence 
with Governor Clinton, Putnam and Gates, upon the critical 
condition of affairs at the North. It was a busy and anxious 
time with him. Not only the affairs within his own camp, but 
those outside of it, largely occupied his time. The ranks of his 
own army were by no means full, and he was obliged to complain 
repeatedly of the way in which enlistments were retarded. 
While here he was annoyed by the arrest of one of his officers 
in Maryland, because he had enlisted a man in that State for 
the Continental army. There was an act of Assembly there 
which prohibited enlistments for any but Maryland regiments. 
This is only an example of the many minor matters that occupied 
Washington's attention while he was encamped here upon the 
banks of the Neshaminy. It would take too much space to 
mention them all. Not the least among them was the trouble 



28 

the foreign officers were giving him, who were arriving in great 
numbers about this time, not excepting the cases of DeKalb, 
Pulaski and Lafayette. He wrote from these headquarters to 
Dr. Franklin in Paris, who had been instrumental in sending 
these officers here, that they had "come over in such crowds 
that we either must not employ them, or we must do it at the 
expense of one-half of the officers of the army," and he begged 
Dr. Franklin to discourage all others from coming. 

It was at this camp that Lafayette first joined the American 
army. He had been made a major-general by Congress on 
July 31, and was in command of Philadelphia from August 8 
to August 15, when he was reHeved by General Armstrong. 
He then accepted Washington's invitation, and came up to 
Neshaminy camp with his horses and equipment. He occupied 
these headquarters with Washington, as a member of his military 
family, and served in the army as a volunteer until he was placed 
in command of General Stephen's division after the battle of 
Germantown. He was then only nineteen years of age; a 
French nobleman of high rank and influence, who had forsaken 
all the ease and comforts of great wealth to cast his lot with 
the struggling colonies in the darkest hour of the war — when 
the news reached France that Washington's broken little army, 
in November, 1776, was fleeing across New Jersey. The Ameri- 
can commissioners in France were not able to furnish him with 
transportation, so he fitted out a vessel at his own expense, 
and brought the Baron DeKalb and other officers with him. 
He landed at Charleston in July, 1777, and rode on horseback 
to Philadelphia, where he arrived on the 27th — the day before 
Washington's army reached the banks of the Delaware. 

It was at these headquarters that General Coudray, the dis- 
tinguished French engineer, laid before Washington the plans 
he had prepared by order of Congress for the defences of the 
Delaware. 

At this camp also was Louis Fleury, a French nobleman, and 
captain of engineers, who afterwards hauled down the English 
standard at Stony Point, he having been the first man to enter 
the fort. Here also, as a volunteer, was the Count Casimir 
Pulaski, who had been strongly recommended by Dr. Franklin 
and Silas Deane, and who afterwards fell at Savannah. Here 
also was the father of Chief Justice Marshall, as colonel of a 



29 

regiment of Virginia troops. Here, in Conway's brigade, were 
Lieutenants James Gibbon and George Knox, of the Pennsyl- 
vania Line, who afterwards led the forlorn hope at Stony Point. 
Here was Major Witherspoon, of Maxwell's staff, son of the 
signer of the Declaration of Independence, who, a few weeks 
later, was killed at the battle of Germantown. Here was 
Lamar, and those gallant men of the Pennsylvania Line who 
lost their lives at Paoli. Here was Woodford, commander of 
the Virginia brigade, who was wounded at Germantown. Here 
were also Chambers, and Williams, and Grier and Stephen 
Bayard, who, within a month or two, were wounded in the 
bloody actions around Philadelphia. Here were those heroes of 
the rank and file, whose names have been forgotten, who, before 
the campaign was over, gave their lives for their country upon 
the hard-fought fields of Brandywine and Germantown. 

The time would fail if we undertook to call the roll of all those 
who were upon this tented field, whose names are written in 
the Temple of Fame. 

The army had remained in camp at Neshaminy so long that 
forage was becoming scarce, and though every sanitary pre- 
caution had been taken, the camp was becoming unhealthy 
under the hot August sun. 

Lord Howe had been so long in showing his hand, that 
Washington had lost all patience with him, and determined to 
follow his movements no longer. He was convinced that it was 
not his intention to enter the Chesapeake. He had kept his 
fleet so long at sea that his movement could no longer be looked 
upon as a feint. The loss of time, and the injury to his army 
by keeping it so long confined in the ships, was too great to 
justify a movement that was intended only to mislead. Wash- 
ington, therefore, made up his mind that Charleston was Howe's 
destination, and he decided to let him go his way and return 
to the Hudson. It was not known to him that Howe's fleet 
had already entered the Chesapeake, and was at that time at 
the head of the bay. The country was thinly settled, the 
distances great, the roads bad, and the means of transportation 
slow. The same care does not seem to have been taken to 
procure news from the Chesapeake that had been taken at Cape 
May. No danger seems to have been expected from that 
quarter. 



30 

Entertaining these views, Washington called a council of his 
General Officers to meet at headquarters on the morning of the 
2ist, of whose proceedings the following is the report: 

At a Council of General Officers, held at Neshaminy Camp, in Bucks 
County, the 21st August, 1777. 

Present. 
His Excellency, the Commander-in-Chief. 
Major-Generals. Brigadier-Generals . 

Greene, Maxwell, Weedon, 

Lord Stirling, Knox, Woodford, 

Stephen, Wayne. Scot, 

Marquis Fayette, Muhlenberg, Conway, 

The Commander-in-Chief informed the Council that the British Fleet 
left the Capes of Delaware on the 31st July and have not been seen 
from any information he has obtained since the 7th instant, when they 
were off Sinepuxent and steering to the Southward, and propounded the 
following Questions for the opinion of the Council: 

ist. — What is the most probable place of their destination, whether 
Eastward or Southward and to what port ? 

Answer. — The Southward, and that Charles Town, from a View of all 
Circumstances, is the most probable object of their attention. 

2d. — If it should be thought, from a consideration of all Circum- 
stances, that the Fleet is gone far to the Southward, will it be advisable 
for this Army, taking into View the length of distance and unhealthiness 
of that Climate at this Season, to march that way? or will there be a 
probability of their arriving there in time, should it be attempted, to 
give any effectual opposition to the Enemy or to prevent them^ accom- 
plishing their purposes ? 

Answer. — It will not be advisable for the Army to march to the South- 
ward, as they could not possibly arrive at Charles Town in time to afford 
any succour. 

3d. — If it should not be thought advisable in such Case for the Army 
to march to the Southward, how shall it be employed? Shall it remain 
where it now is or move towards Hudsons River to act as the Situation 
of Affairs shall seem to require? 

Answer. — The Army should move immediately towards the North 
River. 

Peter Muhlenberg, B. G., G. Washington, 
G. Weedon, B. G., Nath Greene, M. G., 

Wm. Woodford, Brig. Genl. Stirling, M. G., 
Chs. Scott, B. G., Adam Stephen, M. G., 

T. Conway, B. G., The Marquis de la Fayette, M. G., 

William Maxwell, B. G., 
H. Knox, B. G. Artillery, 
[Copy.] Anthy. Wayne, B. G. 

[Attest] Tench Tilghman. 



.1 



31 

Upon the adjournment of this council, Washington issued 
orders for the army to march for the Delaware at five o'clock 
on the morning of Friday, the 2 2d. Lincoln's division, under 
Wayne, was to cross at Howell's Ferry, Greene's and Stephen's 
at Coryell's Ferry, and Lord Stirling's division at Trenton, the 
same way by which it had come. 

The conclusions of this general council were so utterly at 
fault that we need not be surprised to find some misgiving in 
the minds of the thirteen officers who composed it. They 
determined to put the responsibility upon Congress, and Wash- 
ington wrote a long letter to that body submitting the proceed- 
ings of the council, with his reasons for its action, and asked 
Congress for its advice. He sent his aide-de-camp, Alexander 
Hamilton, as the bearer of this important communication. 
After Hamilton had gone, a letter was received by Washington 
from John Hancock, dated the 21st, by which he was informed 
that Howe's fleet had been seen at the Capes of the Chesapeake 
on the 14th. Even this information was not sufficient to shake 
Washington's conviction that Howe had gone further south, but 
as an act of prudence he determined to remain where he was 
for a short time. "I shall in consequence of this information," 
he replied to the President of Congress, "halt upon my present 
ground till I hear something further." And he added, "I cannot 
yet think that General Howe seriously intends to go into the 
Chesapeake." 

After some deliberation. Congress adopted the following reso- 
lution in reply to Washington's request for its advice: 

''Resolved, That Congress approve the plan of marching the 
army toward the Hudson, and then that General Washington 
act as circumstances may require." 

The army remained at the camp on the Neshaminy on the 
night of the 21st and all day of the 2 2d, and no further news 
of the fleet came. Washington, therefore, was confirmed in his 
conviction that Howe had gone to Charleston. He accordingly 
issued the following order : 

"The army is to march to-morrow morning (the 23d) if it 
should not rain, precisely in the time and manner directed in 
the orders of yesterday. The two divisions which go to Coryell's 
Ferry will march in this order: General Greene's first, then 



32 

General Stephen's, and then the baggage of both divisions, in 
the same order as the divisions march." 

At this time, while the army was preparing to march in the 
wrong direction, the British fleet was at anchor at the head of 
the Chesapeake, preparing to land Howe's army there, con- 
sisting of 18,000 men, of whom 4400 were Germans. 

In the evening rumors of this fact began to reach the camp 
on the Neshaminy, and though still unwilling to accept these 
rumors without confirmation, Washington issued the following: 

"Additional, Evening — After Orders. 
"The army is not to inarch to-morrow morning, but remain in its 
present encampment till further orders." 

Late in the evening of the 2 2d came the official confirmation 
of these rumors by express from Congress, and then the follow- 
ing order was issued: — 

"Further After-Orders. Evening, 10 o'Clock. 
"The army is to march to-morrow morning at four o'clock precisely, 
if it should not rain, towards Philadelphia." 

There seemed to be such a deep anxiety in Washington's mind 
for the safety of the Hudson that his thoughts were always 
recurring to it. The impending danger from the Chesapeake 
did not seem to be able to draw them from it. He marched up 
to the Hudson from Morristown when there was no necessity 
that required it, and in a few days saw the futility of this march 
himself. When he was marching away from there, as he wrote 
to Gates, from Coryell's Ferry, he could not "help casting his 
eyes continually behind him." He" was restless at the Falls of 
Schuylkill until his army was moving again in that direction, 
and now, he was upon the point of recrossing the Delaware when 
he was arrested by the arrival of Howe's army below Phila- 
delphia, at the place where Howe had always intended that his 
army should land. 

Orders were immediately sent to Sullivan (who had not yet 
returned to Hanover, N. J., from his unsuccessful raid upon 
Staten Island) to hasten with his brigade to join the main 
army. Nash's brigade of North Carolina and Virginia troops, 
which was at Billingsport, and Colonel Thomas Proctor's regi- 
ment of Pennsylvania Artillery, which was at Fort Mifflin, were 
ordered to proceed immediately to Chester. 



33 

There was much excitement in the camp on the Neshaminy 
that night. The army had been awakened out of sleep to learn 
that its suspense was over. It was no longer to march toward 
the Hudson, but it was to march at daybreak, on six hours' 
notice, for Philadelphia. The issues of the campaign, which had 
so long perplexed them, had at last taken definite shape. The 
enemy was in their front again, with Philadelphia between them. 

The next day the Old York Road was lined for miles with 
these marching columns; with the long trains of baggage- 
wagons; the batteries of the artillery, with their caissons, 
rumbUng along, and the squadrons of cavalry, preceded by the 
pioneers, the artificers, and the colors of the army. The farmers 
through the country marked their progress from a distance by 
the long clouds of dust, and understood what it meant, for the 
news that the British had landed spread like wildfire through 
the countryside. Many changes have taken place along this 
road, but there are still standing many houses that were silent 
witnesses of this long, impressive procession: first Greene's 
division, then Stephen's, then Lincoln's under Wayne, then the 
division of Lord Stirhng. 

When Fisher's Lane (where the railroad now crosses) was 
reached, the three divisions of Greene, Stephen, and Lord Stir- 
ling, went into camp to the west of the Old York Road, and 
Washington made his headquarters at Stenton. Lincoln's 
brigade, under Wayne, marched two miles further south, and 
encamped at the Rising Sun. 

Then followed a busy night of preparation for the parade 
through Philadelphia on the following day. It was the first 
time the army had been in that city, and it was important that 
it should make as formidable an appearance as possible, not only 
for the purpose of encouraging its friends, but for the purpose of 
impressing the LoyaHsts, of whom the town was full. Washington 
issued orders, going into the smallest details, as to the manner in 
which the parade should be conducted, and then advised the 
army to go early to bed. The heavy baggage was sent round 
the city to the ferry over the Schuylkill, and the men were 
excused from carrying their camp-kettles. 

On Sunday morning, the 24th, the march of the army began, 
in its best martial array. Washington rode with his staff at 

L«fe. 



34 

the head, and Lafayette was at his side. The route was down 
Front to Chestnut, and out Chestnut to the Common, where a 
short halt was made; and then out across the floating bridge at 
the Middle Ferry, and on to Darby that night. 

There is something sublime in the spectacle (as we see it in 
our fancy) of this tattered, poorly-armed, poorly-disciplined, 
defiant army, in need of almost everything, on its way to resist 
the progress of an aggressive, arrogant and confident foe, 
superior to it in numbers and in everything except the men of 
which it was composed. Victory was hardly to be expected, 
and yet they withstood this enemy upon the bloody fields of 
Brandywine and Germantown, never faltering until they were 
overwhelmed, and then leaving the enemy, so exhausted that 
no attempt was made to pursue them or molest them in their 
sombre retreat. And so they stayed the hands of those who 
were seeking their subjugation. 

And towering above them all stands out the grand figure of 
Washington, the embodiment of a great cause, whose fame has 
become universal, and whose character is more fondly revered 
as the years go by, and will be so revered as long as time shall 
last. 



^ 



^ 



x^. 




